1. Technical Field
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to an electromechanical transducer element, a method of producing the electromechanical transducer element, an inkjet recording head incorporating the transducer element, and an inkjet recording apparatus incorporating the inkjet recording head.
2. Background Art
An inkjet recording apparatus or an inkjet recording head used for an image recording apparatus or an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile machine, or a copier, employs nozzles to discharge ink droplets, a pressure chamber communicating to the nozzles, and an electromechanical transducer element such as a piezoelectric element that pressurizes the ink inside the pressurized chamber. Herein, the pressurized chamber may also be referred to as an ink flow channel, pressurized liquid chamber, pressure chamber, (liquid) discharge chamber, liquid chamber, and the like. Ink inside the pressurized chamber is pressurized by energy generated by an energy generating means, and the ink droplet is discharged from the nozzles.
Two types of inkjet recording heads are known: a thermal inkjet recording head and a piezoelectric inkjet recording head. One piezoelectric inkjet recording head employs a piezoelectric actuator that extends and contracts in an axial direction of the piezoelectric element, and the other piezoelectric actuator employs a piezoelectric actuator of bending and vibrating mode.